


Say My Name

by RedLeaderfic



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Deadly Peril, Dreamsharing, Episode Tag, M/M, Rescue, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-14 00:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13582590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedLeaderfic/pseuds/RedLeaderfic
Summary: Aleister does a ritual to help himself recover from his punishing match with Adam Cole, one he's done hundreds of times.Things go poorly.





	Say My Name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SapphoIsBurning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphoIsBurning/gifts).



> Happy Chocolate Box day! Set right after Takeover: Philadelphia.

Aleister’s hand shook as he lit the final candle and he had to brace against the floor for a few seconds. His back had started spasming an hour after the match, as soon as the last shreds of adrenaline had faded, and it didn’t seem like that was going to stop any time soon. He knew that if he told the trainers all he would have to look forward to were weeks of frustration as well-meaning doctors poked at him and kept him from the ring.

There were more efficient ways of dealing with this.

He forced his legs crossed and sat in front of the candle pentagram, relaxing his hands and emptying his mind. With the first words of the chant he felt the pain dull to a low ache at the base of his spine, then to nothing at all. The small part of his conscious mind still present was relieved this was working; this particular dissociation was…riskier than he tended toward, especially so far from a home base, but it was the only thing he knew that would both rest his mind and heal his body in the short time he had. He’d been careful. He was always careful.

But after a few minutes Aleister realized something was going wrong anyway.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing in darkness – which was correct, that was as it should be but it felt wrong all the same. He looked down and saw the gold thread wrapped around his wrist that connected his mind to his body and that was also as it should be. He tested the strength of it and saw something moving just out of the eye; he spun around in time to see Adam Cole step out of the darkness but too late to do anything about it.

Even if he had seen him in time Aleister thought he would have been too astonished to do anything about it. Cole grabbed him by his hair and forced him to his knees, stronger than he was in life. “You tried to break my back,” Cole said, leaning down to talk into Aleister’s ear and apparently forgetting that he’d been the one to set up those chairs in the first place. 

_How are you doing this?_ Aleister thought but couldn’t verbalize, but from the way Cole smiled it didn’t seem to matter.

“Called in a favor. I figured you’d be up to…some kind of mumbo jumbo after tonight,” he said, gesturing with his free hand. “So, got some of my own.” There was no ground to stand on but Aleister felt something beginning to give beneath him anyway. Cole stepped back with that shark grin still on his face as whatever was under Aleister’s feet crumbled away. He grabbed onto the gold thread, feeling it cut into his palm as Cole crouched above him and toyed with the thread between his fingers.

Aleister felt the stab of genuine panic. _Don’t. You don’t know what you’re doing._

Cole’s grin turned into a poisonous smirk. “Actually I do.” And with that he snapped the thread, waving before blinking out of existence, leaving Aleister to be enveloped back into the nothingness.

Then he fell.

***

Aleister woke to suffocating darkness. He raised his hands in front of his face and could see them clearly but there was emptiness when he groped at the air in front of him. If it was air. Aleister realized he wasn’t breathing, at least not passively – he could take a breath when he tried but it stopped when he got distracted. He out one hand to his chest and found his heart wasn’t beating either. That meant something. He knew that should tell him _¬something_ but he couldn’t grasp it, it felt like trying to hold a fistful of water. He didn’t remember how he came to be here, or anything before opening his eyes other than his name.

Aleister took a deep, apparently unnecessary breath and sat cross-legged on the…he was going to call it the ground, closing his eyes again. His head felt muddy but he worked to clear it as best he could, worked to quiet that tiny voice in the back of his mind screaming. He was too disciplined to give in to that. 

_ Help me. _

He shuddered and opened his eyes, pressing the heels of both hands into his forehead. He couldn’t give in to the panic. The silence, the darkness, that sensory deprivation would break him if he let it and it was too soon to collapse under it.

Aleister heard something move in the darkness, like a swish of fabric, and jumped back to his feet. There was nothing for a few endless seconds, long enough for him to wonder if he’d started to crack already, then he heard the odd sound again and watched a man seem to step out of nothing, a young man with his hair styled to stand straight up and a brightly patterned wrap around his forehead. In fact everything he wore seemed to be as ostentatious as possible from his ridiculous sunglasses to cut off shirt to tight pants, topped off with an incongruous black and silver studded vest. 

Aleister disliked him immediately. “I turn my back on you for one night and look at all the trouble you get into,” the man said, pursing his lips and looking Aleister up and down. 

“Did you do this?” Aleister said, not bothering to keep the growl out of his voice.

“Did I….?” He seemed to find that hilarious. “No, no, no, I am a being of love and light, not whatever….this is,” he said, gesturing to their surroundings. He cocked his head to the side, looking at Aleister more closely. “You really don’t know me,” he said, sounding oddly hurt.

“Why, should I?” And yet as he said that a stray bit of knowledge slotted into place, not about the man but about the vest he was wearing. “That’s mine.”

The gaudy man laughed again. “I know.” Aleister swung at him but the man sidestepped easily. “Oh, this is nice, I could get used to this,” he said as Aleister missed with another wild punch. The third time the man caught Aleister’s arm, pulling him in close. “This has been fun but I don’t think there’s time for it,” he said, new urgency in his voice. “You’re the expert about this, tell me what I have to do.”

Aleister blinked. “I…don’t know. I don’t remember anything.”

“Yes you do. You know me. Say my name.”

For some reason that made Aleister’s lip curl up in defiance. He pushed the man away, setting his feet in a fighting stance. “You stole from me.”

The man rolled his eyes so obviously behind those glasses it moved his whole head. “Fine. You want this back so bad?” he said, sliding his thumbs along the edge of the vest. “Say my name right now and I’ll give it to you.” 

Aleister didn’t understand what this person wanted from him and was about to take another swing when he felt a tremor deep under him. And not just him, the strange man felt it too, swearing under this breath. “Not this again,” he said, looking around before unwinding the sash from around his head and throwing one end to Aleister. “Hold onto that!”

Aleister caught it, winding one end around his hand and noticing the other man doing the same. Before Aleister could ask what this was supposed to do the ground crumbled, dropping him with such force knocked the nonexistent wind out of him, and he passed out before he could say a word.

When Aleister came to again he saw a glowing purple thread wrapped around his hand and no memory of how it had gotten there. He looked up and saw it trailing far away into the darkness and, lacking any other idea of what to do he followed it, first crawling on his hands and knees until he managed to walk on shaky legs.

***

Aleister had no idea how long he trudged along before he heard a voice. “You always have to be so difficult about everything.” Aleister turned to see a brightly dressed young man he dimly recognized but had no idea why, wearing a vest he knew was his. “I wasn’t sure that would work,” he said, nodding to the thread Aleister had followed, the other end of it tied around his own wrist. “The deeper you go the harder this gets and the longer it takes, I had to think of something.” He circled Aleister, too close into Aleister’s personal space. “You recognize me this time,” the man said. “Don’t know me, but recognize me at least. That’s good, that’s better.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” Aleister said, strangely sure of that.

“Pfffff. Tell me something we both don’t know.” He stepped close to Aleister. “This is not fun anymore, you need to wake up. Tell me what I need to do to wake you up. I don’t know what to do.”

Aleister blinked at that for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head. He should know the answer but his mind was too foggy to come up with it. _You’re too far gone_ said the voice he’d been trying so hard to ignore and felt an odd peace settle over him when he realized it was true. “You should leave.”

“You’re not getting away from me that easily, I did not put all this effort into you for no payoff,” he said, poking one finger in Aleister’s chest. “I….” 

They both felt the tremor. The man grabbed for Aleister just as the ground crumbled under him, catching his hand at the last second. Aleister felt his teeth clack together as his momentum stopped; he looked down into the inky darkness waiting for him below and felt ashamed that his first instinctive thought was _Don’t drop me._

“I won’t. I won’t.” Aleister’s head snapped up, not sure how his strange friend had heard that. He was lying prone above Aleister, like he was trying to keep Aleister from falling off a cliff. Maybe in a way he was. 

His sunglasses had fallen off while trying to catch Aleister and it struck Aleister how very _young_ he was. The man slipped forward a few inches, struggling to pull Aleister up, and Aleister knew he wouldn’t be able to. He thought the man knew that too but was too stubborn to accept it; his lips twisted into a scowl as he fought against Aleister’s dead weight, crying out in pain once when he slipped again. Aleister realized he had seen this man’s face like this once before, free of artifice, really _seen_ him, and felt an echo of fierce pride along with one of the frustrating flashes of insight that plagued him since waking up here, that the only thing Aleister was accomplishing now was dragging someone else down with him. 

So he knew what he had to do. 

Something in his face betrayed him and Aleister saw his rescuer’s expression darken. “Oh no you don’t,” he whispered, trying to get a better grip to no avail. “Do not let go of me, I will not be able to find you again.”

_I know._

Desperation and panic was bright in his friend’s eyes as Aleister let go but within a second Aleister was out of reach. Aleister heard him shout “No, no, _no_!” but couldn’t think of anything to say back. The thread wrapped around his hand snapped and he fell for a frighteningly long time, watching the man turn into a tiny pinprick above him, then closed his eyes as the darkness took him.

***

Aleister opened his eyes to empty darkness. He didn’t know how many times he had done this. Too many times.

He pulled himself up and sat shaking with his head on his knees. His body felt weak and his joints screamed with pain, even though intellectually he knew the bones and muscles that were required for pain to exist weren’t actually there. His mind was what worried him most, though; his thoughts kept slipping away from him, like vapor he couldn’t touch. Twice he’d forgotten his name, only recalling it after desperate effort. He didn’t know what would happen if he actually forgot it. He suspected it wouldn’t matter for very long anyway 

Something was different this time. He was still balancing on the same knife edge but knew somehow the next time he fell there would be no landing. He didn’t fear it anymore. There were risks to the life he’d chosen to lead, he’d always known that. He supposed it had all finally caught up with him. He looked at his hands and noticed a dull purple thread tied around one palm; he toyed with the frayed end, an ache in his chest as he wondered how it had gotten there. 

Aleister forced himself swaying to his feet. Whatever was coming, he was going to meet it standing.

“I am getting tired of this and tired of you.”

Aleister turned his head and saw a man who he…almost recognized. Felt warmly toward, at any rate, although it wasn’t as if he had the strength to fight him if he’d been an enemy. “You need to stop coming after me,” he said, knowing the words were true even if he wasn’t sure why.

“You need to stop making it so difficult.” He looked haggard, and Aleister knew in the odd, frustrating way he knew things that he wasn’t a man who went around looking haggard. “How _dare_ you try to duck out on me.” For a second Aleister thought this would be a fight after all but instead he stumbled up and cradled Aleister’s face, looking into his eyes. “I know what I need to get you to do, I just don’t know how to do it and every time you get close something stops you. I keep trying. God knows it was a pain in my ass to get you to do it the first time.” He shook his head. “And for the record, I am getting very offended that you will not remember me even if your life depends on it.”

And Aleister _tried_ but he could barely remember who he was right then. It felt good to be touched. He put his hands over his friend’s, selfishly relieved to have someone with him. When he felt the faint tremor deep beneath him he wasn’t afraid. “Step back.”

The man shook his head. “No.” Aleister was surprised when the man kissed him, slow and lingering. “You will not make me watch that one more time. I do not give up, I _get what I want_. I need you to wake up---” He laughed suddenly, sagging against Aleister. “Aleister, where are we?” he whispered, pressing his forehead against Aleister’s.

Aleister shook his head. “I don’t---”

“No. _Think_ ,” he said, pressing one finger to Aleister’s lips. “Think,” he said again, taking one of Aleister’s hands and pressing it to his chest so Aleister could feel his own nonbeating heart. “Where are we? What is this?”

 _I need you to wake up._ “It’s a dream,” he said, and the moment that last word came out he felt his knees buckle, a wall of memories rushing toward him that he could almost touch but stopped just short. He looked down at his hand and saw a faint gold thread winding itself in with the purple one, his mouth going dry as he tried to remember what that meant. “It’s a dream,” he whispered, trying in vain to grab back just one memory.

“That’s right.” He kissed Aleister again as Aleister felt the ground begin to give way beneath them. “Now say my damn name.”

Aleister stared into desperate eyes for what felt like eternity. “Velveteen Dream.”

Aleister woke up gasping on the floor of his hotel room, drenched in sweat and staring up at the ceiling.

“And people say I’m the dramatic one.” Aleister turned his head to see Dream lying on the floor beside him, similarly sweat soaked and exhausted. His fingers were curled around Aleister’s and Aleister pretended to not notice. “You mind telling me what exactly all that was?”

Aleister took a deep breath, leaning his head back against the floor. “I was trying to do a spell and Cole interrupted it.”

Dream stared at him. “You mean to tell me that tiny man tried to kill you with black magic?”

“There’s no such thing. It’s what you use it for.” Aleister pondered it for a second. “But I supposed so, yes.”

Dream let out a low whistle. “Didn’t think Cole had it in him.”

“Yes, I was very surprised myself. He has dangerous friends.” Aleister felt like he’d been through three iron man matches, just flexing his fingers was almost more effort than he was capable of. “How did you know?”

Dream was silent for a few seconds. “I had a dream,” he finally said. “I saw you fall. I kept watching you fall.” Aleister watched him close his eyes and will that away. “When you didn’t answer the door I jimmied the lock and found _this_ ,” he said, gesturing weakly at the room. “What is all this, anyway? Do you pack candles with you whenever you go on the road?” Dream shook his head. “Remind me to never go through TSA with you.”

“You were worried.”

“I’m not done with you yet. I got my moral victory but I still need a full one.”

Aleister squeezed his hand. “You were worried.”

Dream stared up at the ceiling, swallowing hard once. “You kept seizing,” he said, looking oddly young again, the way he had when he'd tried to pull Aleister up over that phantom ledge. “I didn’t know what to do. I tried to stop it and then…I don’t know. I was both here and I wasn’t.” He shook his head again. “I don’t know how I did any of that.”

“You have good instincts. I could teach you.”

Dream laughed. “No, no, no, I want no part of this nonsense.”

Aleister forced himself up to his knees and snuffed out the candles that hadn’t been knocked over and sputtered out on their own. With that bit of ritual done he collapsed to the floor again, rubbing his hands over his face. When he closed his eyes he could still that endless darkness reaching for him. He wasn’t going to admit it aloud but he had no idea how Dream had done any of that either. The theory behind it yes, Cole had been sloppy and left a door open but how Dream had found it and found him…. Aleister stared at Dream lying beside him. _How do you keep surprising me?_

“So how much of all that do you remember?” Dream said, almost pointedly not looking at him.

“Some of it. Enough.” 

Dream let out a soft, rueful breath. “I had _plans_ for how that first kiss was supposed to go that you ruined.” He stared at the ceiling, quiet for a few seconds. “Couldn’t figure out how to get you to listen. Told myself after that last time I wasn’t letting it happen again. Not without a hell of a fight.”

He seemed to have more to say but Aleister forced himself to his side, pulled Dream to him and kissed him hard, hoping that was enough to stand in for the gratitude he had no words for.

It seemed to be. Dream sighed and kissed him back, looping one leg around Aleister’s proprietorially and cradling his face the way he had in the dreamscape, stroking the tattoo on his cheek. “You’re too much work, Aleister Black. You’re lucky I don’t mind hard work.” Aleister could feel exhaustion stalking him and fought to keep his eyes open; once he dozed off despite himself and startled awake, his heart suddenly pounding. 

“Go ahead,” Dream said, kissing him. “I told you, you’re not getting away from me that easily. It’s not like I have it in me to get up from this floor either.” Aleister let his eyes close, feeling Dream’s breath against his lips. “Make it up to me in the morning.” Aleister smiled at that comfortable touch of bravado, the latest in their series of escalating dares. Aleister would meet this one too.

Aleister was almost asleep when Dream said, “And I’m keeping your vest.”

Aleister wrapped one arm around his waist. “I have other vests.” Dream huffed like he didn’t care for that answer but seemed to think better of arguing about it. When Aleister finally let himself sink into a deep sleep the last thing he felt was Dream still stroking his cheek, as if reminding him of what he had to wake up to.


End file.
